The Second Kiss
by weeblz-kat
Summary: Daine and Numair are in the cave after that first kiss in ROTG. Their conversation goes a little differently... Fluffy romantic stuff, with a little bit of angst thrown in for good measure ;


**So I wrote this at around about midnight, so if there's any glaring mistakes it's because I'm tired and can't be bothered proof-reading it properly. :)**

**Basically, it's set during ROTG, when they're in the cave after they kiss for the first time. **

**If you think I own the characters etc., then you haven't been reading the series. Go read them, **_**then **_**come back.**

Daine woke up slowly, comforted by the familiar sounds of Numair's lowered voice and the occasional clicks and whistles Kit made in response. She lay still for a moment, memories washing over her; memories of her fall from the cliff, the Spidrens, her narrow escape, kissing Numair...

Oh, Horse Lords, the _kiss..._

She had known she had felt something powerful for the mage for a long time. But love? It had taken the kiss for her to realise that. She knew it now though, with an almighty certainty. She was in love with her teacher, the man who had taken the shy, damaged girl from Snowsdale, and helped to shape her into the woman she had become.

She smiled inwardly and sat up. Her cuts and bruises screeched with the movement, and she winced as she stood and walked over to the fire.

Numair looked up, surprised, as she sat next to him. He shuffled over to give her more room than was strictly necessary, not meeting her eyes as he did so.

"Daine! You... I mean... I didn't think you would be up yet," he stammered. Daine had never heard him sound so uncertain. "I was about to go out... to... uh... get some more mushrooms. For breakfast. In the morning."

Daine looked at the pile of mushrooms that had already been stacked near the fire, and raised an eyebrow. "Are the Tortallan Army joining us?" she asked drily.

"Well... I... er... fancied a walk."

Glancing outside, Daine said sharply, "don't be silly! You'll get lost in this darkness. And it's fair dangerous out there, with the immortals and Mithros only knows what else around." She glared at her tall companion, who was still refusing to meet her gaze. Softening her tone, she asked, "Numair? What's wrong?"

His feet shuffled, uncomfortably. "Nothing," was the muttered reply.

Daine hesitated. _Something _was clearly bothering him, and she thought she knew what. She took a deep breath, and, voice shaking a little, asked, "Did I do something wrong?"

His head whipped up at that, and Daine gasped at the pain she saw in his eyes.

"Listen to me, Daine," Numair said, urgency in his voice, "you did _nothing _wrong. Nothing, understand? It was all me, my fault." So quietly that Daine could barely hear him, he added "I tricked you," as he turned his head back towards the fire.

Daine was in front of him in a flash, ignoring her injuries' protests. Her eyes blazed as she asked, in a voice as dangerous as any the Lioness could produce, "_What_ was that last part?"

Numair stood and began to pace, obviously agitated. There was agony and self-hatred in his voice as he spoke.

"I tricked you, alright? For Mithros' sake, I'm your _teacher!_ I should be locked up for taking advantage of you like that. You were weak, and tired, and had just about _died... _and I, I who am supposed to be your role model, just went in and, and, _kissed _you!"

He stopped, breathing heavily, and leaned his forehead against the far wall of the cave. Both of them were quiet for a moment, digesting what he had just said. Then Daine spoke.

"You're insulting me, Numair."

The man in question spun around and gaped at her. "I... what?"

Daine stood, but kept her distance this time, trying not to spook him. _He's behaving like a skittish horse, _she thought, a small part of her brain amused.

"You think I'm some empty headed court beauty, to be sucked in by tricks and flattery? I have a head on my shoulders, thank you very much. If I hadn't wanted to kiss you back, you'd have known it."

Numair was silent, his mouth still hanging open. Evidently the possibility that she didn't regret what had happened hadn't occurred to him.

Daine approached him slowly. "Numair? Say something?"

"Daine... magelet... I... you... I don't know what to say."

Reaching him, Daine grinned up at him. "You could kiss me again." She flushed as she said it. She didn't think she'd ever said anything quite so brazen.

Numair's eyes, already warm, softened. The desire she had seen earlier rose to the surface again, but this time it was different. Less like a raging fire, and more like a slow moving lava. While not as obvious, ultimately deeper and more powerful.

He pulled her into a tight embrace- not a kiss, she was disappointed to note. He murmured something she didn't catch into her hair.

"What did you say?" she asked, pulling back a little.

"Nothing, magelet," Numair smiled. Daine shrugged inwardly, and leaned her head on his chest. He'd tell her in his own time. For the moment, at least, she was content just to stand here with the man she loved.

After a time, however, her bruises and scrapes were starting to really bother her.

"Um, Numair? Would you be able to put some salve on the scratches on my back for me?"

"Gods, of course! You're hurt. You should be sitting, and resting." He steered her towards the fire, while he himself, dug the salve out from their supplies.

She grinned mischievously as she sat. "Well, it _was _restful."

Numair made no comment as he sat behind her, opening the jar and scooping some onto his hand. In one fluid movement, Daine pulled her top off and her hair to the side, so he could get at the scrapes. She heard him gasp; when she looked around at him, he was very deliberately looking away from her.

"Oh, Horse Lords, Numair. I am wearing a breast band. It's not like you've never seen my back before."

"Yes, but that was... different," he replied, still studying the wall.

Daine, about to snap at him, tried a different tactic. Deliberately making her voice shake a bit, she asked, "Please, Numair? My back really hurts."

He sighed, and turned his head to face her. He kept his eyes on her face with no small amount of effort.

"Thank you," she smiled, turning around again.

She felt his hand on her back, gently rubbing salve into her wounds. Soon both hands were rubbing cool, soothing circles onto her aching back. She sighed, unconsciously arching back into him. She heard his breath hitch. The circles his hands were making grew slowly broader, until they were curving almost around her sides.

Suddenly they stopped, resting on her waist.

"I can't," said Numair, sounding somewhat breathless. He went to pull his hands away, only to find that Daine's hands had trapped his against her. She continued to hold them as she turned to face him.

This time he had no difficulty in keeping his eyes on her face. He saw something there, something he had seen on other women's faces before.

This was the first time it had not made him want to run away screaming.

It should have come as no surprise to him, then, when she said it. Yet, somehow, it did. To hear his own feelings reflected back at him with such a simple sentence was something he had never experienced before. Gods, he had never _felt _this way before.

"Numair, I love you."

He couldn't help it- he kissed her. In that moment, the wrongness of it all didn't matter to him. She was _Daine, _and he loved her,and that was all that was important.

The passion behind the kiss made Daine melt. She pressed herself against him, wanting to be as close to him as it was possible to get. She was almost in his lap when they drew apart, panting, their want for each other reflected in two pairs of eyes.

"Gods above, Daine, I've loved you for what feels like forever."

All of Numair's misgivings vanished when he saw the sheer pleasure that leaped into Daine's eyes after his words. She lunged at him and squeezed tight, the force of it nearly knocking Numair over.

He kissed her tenderly, stopping only when they heard a shrill whistle from beside them. Both Daine and Numair looked at the source of the noise, and laughed. Kit stood there, holding Daine's shirt towards them.

Numair chuckled sheepishly. "I think she wants you to put your shirt back on." To Kit he said, "We're lucky to have such a good chaperone."

Daine glared at the small dragon as she grabbed her shirt and pulled it roughly over her head.

"Lucky is _not _the word I'd use."


End file.
